Cosplay, alternatively known as Costume Role-play, has been around for decades and they vary from armor to closet cosplay. I’m proud to present Nerdbot’s Cosplay Spotlight where I interview cosplayers from around the world and share their work with you all.
To begin the showcase I am happy to present a cosplayer from Copenhagen, Denmark; Stine, aka Nordballe!
Would you please tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
My name is Stine and I am a 22 year old cosplayer from Copenhagen, Denmark. I’ve been cosplaying for 9 ⅓ years. My first cosplay was Hinata Hyuga from Naruto, but these days I’m really into DC comics.
I’m the crafter kind of cosplayer! I love getting into creative projects, participating in cosplay shows, and the craftsmanship [behind] them. I especially love performing, which I most often do with my fiancé. The Danish Cosplay Championship (DCC for short), is the biggest competition in the country and I participate every year in hopes to qualify and travel around the world competing.
I currently teach creative classes in an “evening school” for teenagers in Copenhagen. One of my classes is actually a cosplay-class where I have the pleasure of teaching talented aspiring cosplayers my way of doing cosplay and guiding them to find their own way of doing it.
How would you define “cosplay”?
I think cosplay is an individual experience for everyone. I personally would define cosplay like so:
“Cosplay is a hobby where you dress up as pre-existing characters.”
Whether you make the costumes yourself or prefer to buy it; is totally up to the individual. What you do with it is also up to you; You can go to conventions, do photo shoots, make TikToks or just walk around having fun in it. I don’t think cosplaying is necessarily defined by which situation you wear it in, but rather the fact that you like wearing it.
Some cosplayers like to dive deep into details and make everything on their cosplay insanely accurate to the source material. Other cosplayers don’t like to worry about the small details and even like to add their own personal touch to it.
However, I think the amount of effort there is put into it defines the cosplayer from the halloween costumer.
I personally don’t consider “oc’s” or “fursonas” to be cosplays, but rather LARP.
I am also one of the people who consider the “acting”-part to be optional.
Do you prefer solo cosplays or cosplays with other people [group cosplays], and why?
I honestly like both, I like doing it with friends a lot. I feel like [it’s] a reason to get together and help each other out. You can do big epic group shots, and most importantly, you can share your interests with your friends. As mentioned earlier I really like performing, which I prefer to do in duo with my fiancé.
However, I also do like to go solo sometimes. It can be really nice to not have to depend on others, and to do it at your own tempo.
In my friend-circle we actually have very different interests, so it can also be super difficult to find something everyone likes and wants to do. A good thing about going solo is that you don’t have to compromise on which character you wanna do.
Do you have a favorite memory from cosplaying?
I’m lucky to have tons of great memories in cosplay. However if I had to choose I would pick Genki 2017. My fiancé and I won the “Best Performance” reward at the cosplay show. We had performed the song “Life’s Too Short” as Anna and Elsa from Frozen. We worked so hard for it, and it felt amazing that it paid off!
Watch the performance here:
What are some of your favorite animated shows (anime) or graphic novel series (manga) and why?
I’m really into DC comics. I feel like they have such complex characters on both the side of good and evil, and the stories are very mature and well-written. I especially like the DC animated universe. It’s some of the [best] movies I’ve ever seen.
I am more than anything totally obsessed with the Arkham games!
Besides DC comics, I am super much into disney. I’ve recently given “Tangled the Series” a watch, and it is super well made and fun to watch.
I’ve also gotten a super soft spot for Life is Strange.
If you would like to know more about Stine please check out her social media links as well as her shop!
